OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After two victories sprinting on Aqueduct’s inner track, Peggy Jane will get a chance to show her ability around two turns when she heads a field of eight New York-bred 3-year-old fillies entered in Sunday’s $75,000 Windswept Wing Stakes at Aqueduct.
A $200,000 purchase at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s 2-year-old in training auction last April, Peggy Jane has gone 2 for 3 for Barbara Banke’s Grace Stables and trainer Steve Asmussen.
Quiet Again has quietly compiled a career record of 16 wins from 44 starts, and when he defends his title Sunday in the $50,000 Curribot at Sunland Park, he will be chasing his 10th career stakes win. The horse, a 7-year-old son of Real Quiet who has had the bulk of his success in New Mexico, has earned $572,369.
“He is an honest horse,” said Jimmie Claridge, who trains Quiet Again for Paul Thomason. “He’ll try wherever you put him. He’ll run short and he’ll run long. He’s so nice to have around.”
Silver Hustler, who closed from last to win her career debut in a maiden special weight sprint Jan. 21, will make the move to two turns in the featured eighth race Sunday at Oaklawn. The first-level optional $75,000 claimer for 3-year-old fillies will be run at 1 1/16 miles.
Silver Hustler, a daughter of the Unbridled’s Song stallion Political Force, debuted for Ralph Bodine but has since been sold privately to Al and Sandee Kirkwood. Grant Forster remains the trainer of the filly, and is looking forward to the move to two turns Sunday.
Atigun, who started his 3-year-old season with a sharp first-level allowance win opening weekend at Oaklawn, is being pointed for the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest Stakes here Feb. 20, said his trainer, Ken McPeek. His connections had been debating whether to run back in the Southwest, at a mile, or await the Grade 2, $500,000 Rebel on March 17, a race to be run at the same mile and a sixteenth distance over which he won at Oaklawn.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark.– Caleb’s Posse is heading back to New York. Last year, Saratoga was the site of one of his biggest wins, the Grade 1 King’s Bishop over comebacking champion Uncle Mo, and next month, he is scheduled to return to the state for the Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool at Aqueduct, said his trainer, Donnie Von Hemel.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Following knee surgery and a couple of subpar races, it was fair to question whether the now 6-year-old Inherit the Gold would be able to return to his razor-sharp form of early 2011.
Inherit the Gold answered those questions emphatically with a 6 1/4-length victory in the Haynesfield Stakes here at Aqueduct last month, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 104 that ranks as the top number in the country in races beyond one mile.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The filly Princess Arabella is well-regarded enough to have been nominated to the Triple Crown by owner Peachtree Stable.
Whether she runs in such historic races will not be known for a few months. What is clear is that Princess Arabella is one of trainer Bob Baffert’s leading 3-year-old fillies, a point she is expected to emphasize in a $58,000 allowance race over seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Sunday.
Arch Traveler, another highly regarded, stakes-winning sprinter with a fondness for the local strip who had been away since the Amsterdam, did not fare well when making his return in Friday’s allowance feature at Gulfstream Park. Arch Traveler was eased to the wire after seemingly struggling over the wet track in his first appearance since finishing fifth in the Amsterdam. Arch Traveler won a pair of races here last winter before finishing a distant sixth in the Florida Derby.
Havre de Grace, the 2011 Horse of the Year, had her first timed workout of 2012 on Friday morning at Fair Grounds, breezing three furlongs in 37.20 seconds.
With exercise rider Jen Brasser up, Havre de Grace worked immediately after the track opened at 6 a.m., breezing from the three-furlong pole to the wire and galloping out a half-mile in a little more than 52 seconds.
“She wasn’t being asked at all,” Fair Grounds clocker Mike Diliberto told track publicity.
[bc_video_id:243893:]HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer James Chapman thought enough of Alydaria last summer to launch her career at Saratoga in the Grade 3 Schuylerville. He thinks enough of her now to like her chances, no matter the surface, in Sunday’s $60,000 Madcap Escapade, a five-furlong overnight stakes for 3-year-old fillies scheduled for the turf at Gulfstream Park.
